Indoor tree start problems...

I started a PILE of trees indoors this over this last winter. Everything was going great until I started fertilizing them with some high nitrogen bat guano fertilizer that I inherited from a friend. They've been on a steady decline since.

I applied the guano as a fresh brewed tea twice over the span of two weeks.

Once I started seeing adverse affects, I flushed everything thoroughly with tap water and pruned back any bad looking areas.

It's been about two weeks now and they seem to still be on the decline.

find the highest quality compost or wormcastings you can find. add some to the top soil about a 1/4 inch. and water in, do this when they need watering, part of the problem seems to me that your watering too much( aka fungus gnats)

start giving them daylight outdoors little by little if possible, you want them in the sun soon without shocking them.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

I think that does look like too much water and too much nitrogen....I would probably try repotting a few and check on the roots. Maybe a better drained potting mix also...I add a lot of sharp sand to my homemade mix. I am pretty sure most young tree starts don't need much nutrition until they are planted out. The leaves look familiar enough I am sure this is something i've had happen in the past

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi

Leo Ziebol

Posts: 11

Location: Central Iowa Zone 5a

posted 4 years ago

Thanks for all of your answers! I'm REALLY pleased to hear it's not a hopeless situation. I'm pretty attached to these little guys!

I definitely got overzealous when I inherited a friends' grow room gear...

Once again, LESS seems to be MORE!

To do a great right, do a little wrong - shakespeare. twisted little ad: